In this decade of "the end of the cold war," every
known problem of the world has been solved. Yet unknown
and unexplained problems constantly appear to wreck havoc on our
existence. The peace dividend appears and vanishes without
explanation. Wage inflation vanishes in America yet the federal
reserve tells us we must suffer now for the ghost of future inflation.
Israel and the PLO make peace to fight war against the Palestinian
poor. The FMLN "revolutionaries" of El Salvador agree
to become the police of El Salvador yet death-squads continue.
An immense massacre happens without warning in Rwanda.

goodbye to a friend

This article is a memorium to Charlene Paulvecchio. It
is and will be available only in printed form.

.

After failed real estate developer John Luigi Ferre murdered
ten office workers and two lawyers in downtown San Francisco,
inept San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan was quoted as blurting
out "maybe he just cracked."

Jordan's off-hand comment drew a stream of protests from relatives
of the victim. They demanded a definitive line be drawn between
"savage killers" and the many ordinary people we instinctively
sense are close enough to the edge to "crack" under
pressure. "He didn't just crack, he went on a deliberate
murderous rampage..." Complained one moralistic editorial.

But Jordan's comment rings true to these times. The competition,
pace and ruthlessness of this society have increased to a point
where many people are pushed to and off "the edge" in
many ways.

America really is entering a period of greater
democracy. Bill Clinton's election campaign has never stopped.
Polls are still being taken about his latest struggles. From the
New Hampshire primary to the health care reform campaign, TV has
tried to draw us into his endless fights with other mighty bureaucrats
- from George Bush to Robert Dole to Saddam Hussein.

Even
more, we are expected to cheer Clinton in fights against us. "How
well do you think that Clinton succeeded in communicating the
need for sacrifice to the American people."

Like lemmings, the obedient workers of today are expected
to crush themselves on the myths of crisis, budget deficits, inflation,
global competitiveness or high technology. Mysterious
explanations of our falling wages appear and disappear like villains
on day-time soaps. Stern bank presidents give unquestionable reasons
why we must give one more pound of flesh for financial stability.
CNN suddenly tells us the remote-control computerized world-market
is the final arbitrator of our wage and work conditions. The 1994
US recovery was worse than the 1993 recession. The unemployment
rate may have dropped a big 1% but unemployment benefits and youth
summer jobs got cut more. The hours of those who had jobs have
gone up to torture levels.

The citizens of industrial democracies have acquired a great
and dubious ability to adapt to difficult conditions. Wilhelm
Reich studied the submission of the average German to NAZI ideology.
He wrote how rigidly held postures and attitudes helped the average
citizen embrace irrational ideology. He defined these rigid postures
that prevented people from feeling pleasure as Character armor.
Reich's analysis of fascism can be applied to every nation today.
The citizens of modern society need their character armor to adapt
to the mechanical rhythm of daily life. It prevents them from
feeling the pain of losing their communities and their spontaneous
animal existence.

A small number of trouble-makers disrupted Earth Day at Ohlone
College in Fremont. Fremont is also an good site for subversion
since left and right ideology have not yet conditioned everyone
into expecting protests to always be the same.